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Adobe announced the availability of its major update to Adobe Creative Cloud, initially announced at Adobe MAX in May.
At Adobe MAX 2013 last month, Adobe announced it was shifting everything to its Creative Cloud subscription program. The creative software solutions maker said the company will focus creative software development efforts on its Creative Cloud offering moving forward.
While Adobe Creative Suite 6 products will continue to be supported and available for purchase, Adobe said it has no plans for future releases of Creative Suite or other CS products.
Adobe officials said the new Creative Cloud release re-imagines the creative process through a set of “CC” desktop applications and sophisticated cross-device collaboration and publishing capabilities. Creative files can be stored and shared, via Creative Cloud, on Mac OS, Windows, iOS and Android. Behance, the company’s online creative community, is now integrated with Creative Cloud, so customers can showcase work, get feedback on projects and gain global exposure.
“We’ve added a ton of new innovation to all our CC desktop apps like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager of Digital Media at Adobe, in a statement. “These apps include new features that increase productivity, streamline the effort to build mobile content, and showcase some stunning new imaging and video science. And in addition to the traditional areas of innovation, these apps are now connected to the powerful publishing and community features integral to the Creative Cloud experience. And with even more great updates coming to Creative Cloud throughout the year, we can’t wait to see the incredible work our customers are going to deliver.”
With Creative Cloud, publishing finished work is simplified with enhanced services that build and power Websites, mobile apps, tablet publications, online portfolios and content for virtually any medium and device, Adobe said.
Also with Adobe Creative Cloud, all files and assets can be shared between the desktop, cloud and mobile devices. A designer can take a photo on his or her iPad, use Photoshop Touch to refine the photo while on the go, then access that file, via the cloud, and use Photoshop CC on his or her Mac or Windows PC to further enhance the image. Designers can send files to view, download or comment. Individual members receive 20GB of storage.
Moreover, Creative Cloud members have access to the services necessary to publish personalized portfolio Websites using Behance ProSite, high-impact digital publications for iPad using Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) Single Edition, and PhoneGap Build to create and publish mobile apps for any device. Adobe Typekit features a library of old-classic to new-favorite fonts for use on Websites and, coming soon in an update to Creative Cloud, creative professionals will also be able to quickly find the perfect fonts in the growing Adobe Typekit library, sync them to their computer and have them immediately available for use in any desktop application. Full Creative Cloud members will soon have access to more than 700 fonts, installed with a single click, Adobe said.
Adobe’s New Creative Cloud Now Available
This update to Creative Cloud includes the next generation of 15 Adobe desktop applications—including Adobe Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Dreamweaver CC, Premiere Pro CC and more. Adobe Creative Cloud includes more than 30 tools and services that enable professional-grade content creation and delivery across print, Web, mobile apps, video and photography.
Adobe packed hundreds of new features into the new versions of its tools in Creative Cloud. For instance, Photoshop CC ships with new sharpening technologies and designer workflow enhancements. The new Camera Shake Reduction de-blurs images that would have otherwise been lost due to camera movement. And the new Smart Sharpen feature makes texture and detail pop, and Adobe Camera Raw 8 adds even more powerful photographic controls to straighten and perfect images. Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC are the first Adobe desktop applications to include the ability to post files directly to Behance, showcasing work immediately and integrating peer feedback into the creative process.
For designers, the Touch Type tool in Illustrator CC offers a new level of creativity with type, allowing users to move, scale and rotate text characters. This feature works with a mouse, stylus or multi-touch device. Illustrator also enables painting with a brush made from a photo. Art, Pattern and Scatter brushes can contain raster images, so designers can create complex organic designs quickly with simple brush strokes. A new, modern architecture for InDesign CC speeds up performance, and in-browser editing in Adobe Muse CC—a tool for designers to create and publish HTML Websites without writing code—allows clients to make edits to a published Website, which can then be reviewed, approved and updated by the designer.
Meanwhile, Web designers and developers gain advances in Adobe’s family of Edge tools and services. The latest Edge Animate CC enables Web designers to create animated and interactive content with ease using native HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Dreamweaver users gain up-to-date CSS and properties via the intuitive visual editing tool, CSS Designer. And Adobe Flash Pro CC features a modular 64-bit architecture.
For video customers Adobe Premiere Pro CC includes new editing features, customization and improvements to help editors work efficiently. Premiere Pro CC integrates color workflows, with the addition of the Lumetri Deep Color Engine to apply rich color grading looks. And a new version of Adobe After Effects CC gives motion graphics and visual effects artists more creative possibilities and allows them to work more easily in 3D with the new Live 3D Pipeline with Maxon Cinema4D integration. There are also all-new versions of Adobe SpeedGrade CC, Audition CC, Prelude CC and Adobe Story CC Plus.
In addition, to mark the availability of the new Creative Cloud, Adobe has also launched Create Now: a Celebration of Creativity. Over the course of the program’s first month Adobe will host a variety of collaborative art projects, commemorate the birthday of a design icon and provide a forum for creative professionals to use Adobe tools to express themselves.